I’ve been telling people that the notion that the ER lets poor people die in the US is false; instead, they make you wish you did.
Comment on In the US, what happens if you sustain a life threatening injury and you don't have insurance?
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They’ll fix everyone at the ER.
But you get a ridiculous bill, then likely “settle” for a much lower amount of if you’re truly pennyless, you just never pay it and eventually the hospital gives up and uses it as a tax write off.
It’s a shit system
ritswd@lemmy.world 10 months ago
nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de 10 months ago
Part of the reason it’s like this is because insurance companies try their very hardest to avoid paying, but that means you have to do the same if paying yourself.
gabe@literature.cafe 10 months ago
It’ll also wreck your credit, and if you’re unlucky they’ll sell your debt off to debt collectors to harass you. And then the truly desperate will sometimes commit heath insurance fraud making the system even more immensely fucked for everyone except for the hospitals and insurance companies
Foggyfroggy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Not exactly. Medical debt is different compared to retail debt like credit cards. It still sucks but the rules are different to protect people at least a little bit.
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yep. Medical debt is often not calculated into your credit score by the credit agencies, either, though not in all cases. Or if it is calculated in, it is heavily weighted against so it doesn’t cause much damage.
And it makes sense. Credit score is supposed to be a judge of your credit worthniess based on your history seeking credit and repaying debts. While medical debt is legitimate debt, it isn’t credit seeking behavior in the way an auto loan is. You didn’t choose to take it on, it would be inaccurate to take a trip to the ER into account when determining your credit seeking habits.
nocturne213@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I sustained a workplace injury (working on a movie set) and the production company never filed the paperwork, so their insurance would not cover me. I refused to pay the bill and it showed up on my credit report and caused issues for three years. Eventually i found my wrap gift from movie and inside the set medic had put a copy of the paperwork. I scanned it and emailed it to the hospital and within 72 hours it was taken care of and like a month later it was off my credit report. (Time frames may be off as this transpired in 2015)
droans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
About five or six years ago, most creditors started using a different FICO model which doesn’t include medical debt. Basically, the idea is that being unable to pay medical debt says very little about how well you can handle debt.
There are also models that don’t consider student loans, but those aren’t used as often.
Gingerlegs@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Thanks Obama (if my memory serves me correctly)
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s somewhat in the credit agencies best interests to ignore or heavily discount medical debt. Because so many people have it, and not by choice, to destroy everybody’s credit rating because of medical debt would decimate a significant portion of the country’s ability to get credit. That would have a domino effect on a great many things, and cause enough of an issue that it’s likely there would be further regulations on the credit agencies.
droans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
90% Obama (ACA), 10% Biden (No Surprise Act).
gabe@literature.cafe 10 months ago
Mind you, that is a recent change and there are some places that still illegally do so and it is a pain in the ass to get it removed.
Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The big story in my city a while back was a shitty debt collector that stole money from a guy’s bank account.
kgw.com/…/283-01681963-8fe0-4b44-a57f-c076e4521b2…
gabe@literature.cafe 10 months ago
it’s relatively common for some hospital systems to sue patients for non-payment if their bills are high enough.
Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I feel like a lot of people ignore collection agencies when they advise others to “just not pay.” Yeah you could probably get away without paying, but you and your entire family will be harassed nonstop. There’s been few things more chilling to me than a stranger calling me out of the blue with my sister’s name and info telling me to get her to settle up (thankfully just a small amount).